Letters to the Editor

Readers write: Letters to the editor, May 30, 2017

We can't turn back clock now

Sen. Dan Sullivan seems to lack the ability to decide for himself and simply opts to vote on party lines regardless of how his votes impact Alaska. He appears to have no understanding of what issues truly matter to Alaskans. During his recent town halls, Sen. Sullivan took every opportunity to regurgitate his Washington, D.C., talking points rather than be honest with Alaskans. When I asked if he would join Sen. Lisa Murkowski in protecting Alaskans' access to quality, affordable health care at Planned Parenthood, Sullivan refused and stated that "it would be much more fair and effective if we took the $500 million Planned Parenthood gets each year and distribute it to community health clinics;" however, these clinics do not provide the same necessary services that Planned Parenthood provides. Without Planned Parenthood, thousands of Alaskans will be left without access to critical health services such as STI testing and treatment, cholesterol screening, diabetes screening and birth control. We must take a stand and make sure that at least Sen. Murkowski hears from us. We have come too far to turn back the clock.

— Suzanne Snyder
Anchorage

Wells Fargo, exit stage right

Goodbye, Wells Fargo. I do not want you managing my money anymore. Giving in to PETA and pulling out of the Iditarod? I will take my money elsewhere. Wells Fargo, exit stage right.

— Marvin Hadenfeldt
Anchorage

We need to invest in Alaska's schools right now

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The recent announcement of huge layoffs at the Anchorage School District should be sounding alarm bells for our community. Our legislators in Juneau need to get rid of the education cuts from the proposed 2017-18 budget and adopt a comprehensive fiscal plan now that does not reduce funding for our schools.

My oldest will be attending kindergarten in Anchorage this fall. I can think of no better and higher-priority investment for Alaska than our children's education. We need smaller class sizes and a strong workforce of public school teachers and support staff. Staff who know they are valued for the important work they do — not facing yearly uncertainty of whether or not they will have a job next year.
Alaska's future relies on ensuring the next generation of Alaskans is well-prepared, innovative and educated to face the challenges ahead. And to do that, we need to support and invest in our schools right now.

— Nelli Williams
Anchorage

An unbelievable use of hard-earned taxpayer dollars

Dear Mayor Berkowitz:

My wife and I were driving down DeArmoun Road this morning and came upon a caravan of road sweepers. It consisted of four sweepers, a dump truck and a water truck. They were sweeping the middle of the downhill lane at the steep, curvy section and were proceeding at about five miles per hour. We followed them for about 10 minutes before we could safely pass.

The amazing part of all of this is the road was clean and did not need to be swept. We cannot believe that you and your administration could waste hard-earned taxpayer dollars like this. I suspect this caravan could have been scheduled to sweep dirty roads in town that really need it.

You and the Assembly raised our property taxes, saying you could not get by without the raise, but yet money is squandered as in the above example. I suspect there are many more examples of wasted tax dollars.

We strongly urge you, your administration and the Assembly to spend our tax dollars as if it was your own money.

We will appreciate your response on why our money was being wasted in this manner.

Oh, and one other thing — in this economic climate we don't believe you can "spend our way to prosperity."

— Robert and Beulah Valantas
Anchorage

The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter under 200 words for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.

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